Jason Plummer, Republican Lt. Gov. Nominee, Draws A Blank On 'Chicago Tonight' (VIDEO)

The lieutenant governor's office in Illinois is not looking so hot.

On the Democratic side, of course, there's the gaping hole on the ticket left by Scott Lee Cohen, who looked like a promising candidate before the domestic abuse, steroid rage and child support issues came to light.

On the Republican side, Illinois nominated Jason Plummer. Seeking to combat negative perceptions of his age (27) and lack of experience (mostly internships and cushy family gigs), Plummer took to the airwaves for a 20-minute interview on "Chicago Tonight" Thursday. (Scroll down for video of the interview.)

Phil Ponce leads off the conversation with a question about the biggest issue in the news -- an issue a politician might have some talking points prepared on -- namely, Illinois' massive budget crisis.

If, Ponce asks, the Republicans don't want to raise taxes, "how do you close a twelve-billion-dollar budget shortfall?"

Plummer starts with an answer on Medicaid waste, and then, he just stops.

"Why aren't we looking at, um, programs like, uh, the um, the edu..., uh, uh, edu..."

"I'm sorry, the education programs?" Ponce politely suggests.

"No, no. The, the uh, uh..."

"You're blanking," says Ponce, clearly wanting to move on.

But does the whole state want to move on from the lieutenant governor office? Speaker Mike Madigan's proposal to eliminate the office by 2015 made some progress in the House this week, and Jason Plummer may be winning it some GOP support.

Watch the whole interview here. For the truly agonizing part, skip to 1:30.